The Vasa Ride of Pain

I feel like it’s time for a ride update- what do you think?? You know you love it! The last big ride I did was the Vasa ride through WABA (Washington Area Bicycle Association) – and that ride was a bitch, let me assure you. This ride is done in conjunction with the Embassy of Sweden, as a tribute to the Vasaloppet, a cross country skiing race across Sweden. It is a 90km race that happens on the first Sunday of March and it commemorates “the trail of renegade Swede King Gustav Eriksson Vasa, who led the rebellion to free Sweden after a long and dangerous pursuit on skis.” (from the WABA website). This ride also took place on the first Sunday of March. Consequently it was cold. Damn cold. It is also 90km- just over 90km actually at 94km (59mi). That’s pretty damn long for the first organized ride of the year. And, I feel WABA has gone out of its way to make an exceptionally hilly ride for the area. (I bet you can guess where this is all going…)

I'm the one in the non hi-vis green. Kate is the one with the blue bag. (image: WABA Flickr)

Here’s something you may not know- the beginning of March is not exactly the ideal time to try and ride 59 very, very hilly miles. Especially if you have been close to sedentary for most of the winter. I thought for sure I’d have some bike fitness – I’m not one of those people who puts their bike away for the winter and doesn’t look at it again until spring. I tried to commute home at least twice a week (even though that rarely happened) and if the weather was nice on the weekends, I’d go out and ride. But I had no idea how much bike fitness I’d lost until I tried this ride. I was impressed with how awful this ride was. The first bit was okay- fast and flat. But the minute we got up the first hill, the road started going up and down, up and down, and it didn’t stop. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced this type of fatigue in my legs before. It was almost a numb pain – but I could still feel every single muscle in my leg working to push and pull that pedal. When we stopped and I had to click out, clicking back in again was almost more than my muscles could take – like I didn’t want to waste a single iota of energy. I’ve experienced piercing pain and concentrated pain (mainly when I rode on Skyline Drive), but this numb sort of pain was new. I thought RAGBRAI had anesthetized me to hills, but I was wrong. I wanted to cry when we’d crest one hill only to see another one. I actually did cry at the top of one hill. It was just too much- the breathing, the legs, the despair! Luckily, a nice out of town lady who had been riding with me, Suze, stopped and made sure I was okay.

There I am again! (image: WABA Flickr)

I stayed most of the ride with my new friend Suze and would often ride with Kate (aka @girlonabikedc). We had done about 45 miles when we realized we had taken a wrong turn. Eventually, we just decided to take this shortcut back to the Embassy- I could not bear the thought of the two giant hills that awaited us in the other direction. My legs were DEAD, my ass/lady bits were starting to hurt and all I could think about was making a big ass hamburger once I got home. Not to mention that my feet were totally numb. Because it was waaaay colder than I anticipated it would be. I have shoe covers, but I’ve never used them and since the weather had been pretty nice so far, I thought it would be too warm for them. I was wrong. As wrong as one can be. I literally could not feel my feet. The combination of the cold and new clipless pedals meant I had to stop periodically, take off my shoes and get some blood flowing to them again.

You'd be forgiven for thinking he was a Rabobank rider- he even had the team issued bike

So, between the cold, numb feet, distance and hills, it wasn’t an awesome ride. I’d have to think long and hard about doing this ride again next year – at least the 59 mile route. There is no way I’ll be in any better shape next year and the ride is close to impossible to do in an enjoyable way at the level I was at this year. They do have a 31 and 15 mile ride- I’d do one of those! But… I did meet some fun people (my helper Suze and fellow DC rider Kate) and it was a good challenge ;)

1 Comment

suzecycling

Hi!
Great post, I hadn’t seen it before. It was a hillier ride than I anticipated too, and I couldn’t keep up with the big bunch. It was very fun to meet you and ride together!

But of course you can be stronger and in better shape next year! Don’t give up on that … your legs and lungs will get in synch by riding. I am in awe of your riding Skyline Trail! I used to hike sometimes in the park, it is so beautiful.

I have an advantage of living in a very hilly, and frequently cold part of New England, so at least I was used to it and had really warm clothes on.

Very fun to read your post and I really enjoyed riding with you. Happy pedalling, and enjoy DC … it’s such a great city !